How Bhupen Hazarika’s Inner Struggles Between Nationalism And Personal Freedom Created A Legacy Of Music That Continues To Inspire Generations

Published on August 29, 2025

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika is still a colossus successful nan taste script of India. His travel arsenic an creator is not simply a communicative of improvement arsenic a musician; it is simply a poignant communicative of his soul conflicts betwixt a heavy nationalistic impulse and an arsenic beardown desire for individual state and autonomy. The collision of these 2 impulses—his affection for his state and his aspiration to a cosmopolitan self—runs passim his life and career, infusing his useful pinch a perennial vitality and an intense, echoing richness.

Nationalism arsenic a Cultural Force

Hazarika’s early life was steeped successful nan socio-political upheavals that defined mid-20th period India. Growing up during nan state struggle, nan 1950 Assam earthquake, nan Sino-Indian war, nan Bangladesh War, and nan Assam Student Movement against forbidden immigration, he was not simply a witnesser to history; he was shaped by it. His euphony and lyrics reflected nan struggles of his people, peculiarly nan group of Assam, arsenic they navigated done governmental and taste shifts. Hazarika’s compositions became a sound for corporate identity, a telephone for unity amid nan challenges of a changing nation.

Songs specified arsenic “Ami Asomiya Nohou Dukhia” and “Buku Hom Hom Kore” encapsulate this nationalistic spirit. Through these compositions, Hazarika articulated nan shared struggles and aspirations of Assam’s people, inviting them to guidelines together against some outer and soul threats. “Ami Asomiya Nohou Dukhia,” for example, is not simply a lament for nan symptom of nan Assamese people, but a rallying outcry against nan societal and governmental challenges they faced, specified arsenic nan rumor of forbidden migration and nan neglect of nan region by nan broader Indian polity. However, Hazarika’s nationalism was ne'er jingoistic; his imagination was 1 of taste pridefulness and inclusion, advocating for unity wrong nan divers cloth of India.

In his reflections, Hazarika often said of an “emotionally integrated India,” 1 wherever each taste group could thrive, contributing to a composite Indian identity. His activity was ne'er astir section aliases exclusion, but alternatively astir fostering communal respect and knowing among India’s divers communities. His thought of nationalism was rooted not successful an exclusionary impulse, but successful a broader, inclusive imagination of unity.

The Independent Nomad

While Hazarika’s nationalistic sentiment was a defining facet of his identity, it would beryllium a correction to trim him solely to a fig of location aliases nationalist pride. Beneath nan aboveground of his patriotism laic a deep-seated tone of independence, 1 that manifested itself successful some his euphony and his life philosophy. Hazarika famously referred to himself arsenic a “jajabor,” aliases wandering soul. This self-identification captures his restless, nomadic spirit, his desire to research and link pinch a world beyond nan borders of his location authorities of Assam and his homeland, India.

In his celebrated creation “Mai Eti Jajabor,” Hazarika embodies nan thought of being a wandering, free soul, unbound by geographical aliases taste constraints. This thought is further reinforced successful songs for illustration “I’m a gypsy/ From Brahmaputra done Mississippi I’ve seen,” which speaks to his acquisition of traversing nan world and embracing a cosmopolitan identity. For Hazarika, nationalist boundaries were not limiting walls but bridges to a broader humanism. He sought to transcend nan constrictive confines of regionalism and research a cosmopolitan personality that agreed each quality beings.

Hazarika’s world outlook was besides reflected successful his creator and intelligence pursuits. He blended accepted Assamese people euphony pinch world philharmonic traditions, creating a sound that was uniquely his. His adjacent ties pinch Paul Robeson, an American vocalist and civilian authorities activist, and nan International People’s Theatre Association exposed Hazarika to leftist ideologies and a committedness to quality rights. This power is evident successful his iconic reimagining of Robeson’s Ol’ Man River into Assamese, now known arsenic Bistirno Parore, which connects nan struggles of African-Americans pinch nan Assamese quest for taste personality and dignity.

His activity celebrated subaltern voices—those of women, laborers, nan poor, and marginalized communities—offering a level for nan voiceless. Hazarika’s euphony consistently championed nan underdog, and his usage of tribal motifs and location dialects demonstrated his guidance to taste elitism. His refusal to fresh into immoderate singular identity, beryllium it regional, national, aliases moreover class-based, established him arsenic an creator whose productivity was arsenic unbound and divers arsenic his life experiences.

A Dialectical Artist

The dual forces of nationalism and independency coalesced successful Hazarika’s art, creating a unsocial dialectic that propelled his imaginative output. This move is evident successful his expertise to navigate nan tensions betwixt individual personality and corporate belonging, betwixt taste pridefulness and intelligence freedom. Hazarika’s songs continuously wrestled pinch these contradictions—songs that invited his group to travel together astir a shared personality while simultaneously questioning established norms and advocating for transformation.

While he supported nan Assam Movement and highlighted regionalist concerns, his activity besides emphasized taste assimilation, harmony, and a rejection of communal divisions. Hazarika believed successful a unity that embraced diversity, celebrating nan composite personality of India without falling into nan trap of exclusionary nationalism. His committedness to these ideals is champion exemplified successful songs for illustration “Manuhe Manuhar Babe” and his tributes to rivers that merge cultures. These songs transcend borders, symbolizing solidarity and nan interconnectedness of humanity, moreover arsenic they stay profoundly rooted successful nan ungraded of Assam.

An Artist of Contradictions

The brilliance of Bhupen Hazarika’s artistry lies successful his expertise to harmonize contradictions. His nationalism was not astir division, and his independency was not astir isolation. His life and activity coming a nuanced, analyzable image of a man who was some nan sound of his group and a beacon of freedom—a man who embraced nan tensions wrong himself and transformed them into a powerful creator legacy.

Hazarika’s expertise to mediate betwixt location and nationalist identities, betwixt pridefulness successful one’s roots and a longing for broader connection, has made his euphony and lyrics a root of enduring inspiration. His activity invites listeners to see nan equilibrium betwixt personality and freedom, organization and individuality, creating a philharmonic inheritance that is arsenic inclusive and analyzable arsenic nan onshore that shaped him. Through his art, Hazarika offered not only a sound for nan group of Assam but besides a cosmopolitan connection astir nan powerfulness of euphony to transcend boundaries and bring group together.

In embracing nan contradictions wrong himself, Hazarika near down a assemblage of activity that resonates pinch nan affectional and governmental scenery of some Assam and nan world. His bequest remains an illustration of really creation tin span nan spread betwixt nan individual and nan collective, nan section and nan global, nan individual and nan universal.